Sunday, February 7, 2016

Love Letters ~ Where your fellow writers are getting published, plus

I am happy to announce that my young adult novel, Qala Academy
will be published by Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers in the fall
of 2017.

I hope you are doing well!

Regards,

Tanaz

P.S. I need to thank you again for your excellent advice
on my other novel in your Childrens' and YA fiction workshop. I've decided to
put that novel aside for a while and work on something else in the time being.

Note: I'll be leading Writing for Children & for Young Adults workshops on Saturday, March 5, in Burlington, with literary agent Monica Pacheco and author Jennifer Mook-Sang (see here), on Saturday, April 2, in Barrie, with literary agent Rachel Letofsky (see here), on Saturday, April 30, in Guelph, with Yasemin Uçar, senior editor, Kids Can Press and authors Jennifer Mook-Sang and Kira Vermond (see here), and Sunday, May 29, in Ottawa with acclaimed author Alan Cumyn (see here). ~Brian

Hi,

Just heard
that a story I wrote last year about how Canada got the beaver as our national
symbol has tied for third place in, of all places, Australia!

Here’s part
of what they wrote:

Your story, “Beaver Resplendent”
entered in the Story Quest Short Story Contest #7 has been awarded Third Place
- congratulations! In an unprecedented step this year, we have decided to award
3rd place to two stories – one being yours. This means we have 4 award places
for 2015.

I was very
fond of this little beaver tale (groans permitted here) but it got no traction
whatsoever with Canadian publications. I’m thrilled it has found a happy home
at last.

Sally B

Note: You can read Sally's story here. And check out
Story Quest magazine here.

Brian,

Yay!
My short story, “Cccoon,” is out today on CommuterLit. It's flash fiction and
just had to be under the 500-word count to qualify. If you're in need of a quick
read, check it out here.

Chicken Soup for the Soul was looking for cat stories
and I submitted one I read at CJ's "Brushing my cat's teeth." Bottom line, my
guy was adopted from the Toronto Humane Society, the most unfriendly cat you
could imagine and an escape artist to boot. Extra life insurance would be a
requirement before I even dared approach him with a toothbrush!

The book title is My
Very Good, Very Bad Cat, and
it will be out on Feb 9th, 2016 in Chapters .

Many thanks for your encouragement and critiques over
the last few years on my other writing endeavors during your classes.
Working on a rewrite of my first novel and trying to figure out the
ending of my second.

Cheers,

Connie Cook

My Very Good, Very Bad Cat is available in Chapters / Indigo as of Feb 9 or online here.

Writer to Writer

Good day,I am seeking serious writers of fiction who
actually write daily (more or less) and would like to socialize monthly,
strictly to help one another get better at our craft. I live in Hamilton, and I
find it hard to meet writers here who are serious about character building,
character arcs, story etc. Most seem to be more interested in socializing. It
would be great to co-write as well; that would be a great exercise with
potentially amazing growth outcomes.If you’re serious about writing and interested
in getting together, please email me.Johnjohnathangarfield@hotmail.com

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.